Friends of Brighton History Centre

Kate Elms and I were relative newcomers to the History Centre, both joining the permanent staff in 2007 – Kate having previously worked there as a volunteer and I having worked elsewhere in Brighton Museum with the Curator responsible for Oral Histories.

Like Paul Jordan, when he first started with the original team under the management of Sally Blann, I remember feeling seriously intimidated by the sheer number of items in our collection and having a real sense of terror at the idea of being left on my own at the staff desk and being expected to answer anyone’s questions.

An early photograph of the reference library

Fortunately, our knowledge and our confidence increased over the years and that has been one of the joys of the job – always learning, always finding out more details and adding to our knowledge and again to our ability to really help the visitors to the Centre. Because it’s not just the beautiful room and the resources within it but it was the people who came that really made the History Centre something special.

A letter published in the 1920s complaining of draughts in the room

Although there have been  the obvious highlights like the media research we did for film and television and radio companies and our moment of glory on Who Do You Think You Are?, it was the visitors to the Centre we met in person who really gave meaning to our work. We had academics and historians, novelists and short story writers, journalists researching for various projects and students from PhD level studying rare books and pamphlets down to primary school children looking for that extra finishing touch for a homework project with an old image or a historic newspaper report. We’ve had sports enthusiasts trawling through the newspapers for match reports from a hundred years ago. We’ve supported and advised people with their family histories either helping to trace living relatives or sometimes unearthing hidden family secrets and tragedies in inquest reports and newspaper stories. I’ll never forget the woman who came from Brazil knowing that her grandmother had been in England at the beginning of the 20^th century but not knowing where, being moved to tears when we found her name in the recently released 1911 census, hidden away in a boarding school so far from home.

Paul, Shona & Kate

We’d like to thank all the people who came and who we were able to help and who gave us a real sense that our work was worthwhile and appreciated. Although it was wonderful to see our names mentioned in credits in books, for example, we also feel very proud that for some people the History Centre was just a place that they liked to come – to the full time carers getting an hour away from their responsibilities, for the people looking for a peaceful spot in a busy city. It’s been a privilege to meet you. So many of you have been true friends of the History Centre.

Shona Milton, Brighton History Centre

A May Day visit: Brighton Morris Men and the Sussex Loops

On 1^st May this year, the Brighton Morris Men interrupted their May Day celebrations to come to Brighton Museum & Art Gallery and view one of our ‘Sussex Loops’.

A Sussex Loop is a finely crafted bracelet or armlet made about 3,500 years ago from a thick bronze rod which was bent double, forming a loop at one end, and then bent round into an ‘O’ form with the ends of the rod fitting back into the loop.

Sussex Loop

So far 32 Loops have been found, all within the South Downs/Weald area and all but two within 16 miles of Brighton. As none have been discovered outside this area, they would appear to be the work of a nearby craftsman or workshop and must have had some sort of local significance, perhaps a badge of honour for a Bronze Age tribe living in or around Brighton. What seems strange is that they are generally found buried in pairs or threes (although five were uncovered recently as part of the Near Lewes Hoard) and, in a number of cases, they form part of a larger Bronze Age Hoard – buried with other items of Bronze Age jewellery and weaponry, some of which appear to have been made on the Continent.

Brighton Morris Men dance programme

The fact that they are buried in groups and sometimes with other precious objects could well indicate that there was a specific ritual purpose to their burial. It therefore seems apt that the Brighton Morris Men, who have adopted the Sussex Loop as their logo, spent May Day celebrating an ancient ritual that heralds the arrival of spring and the beginning of summer, and which dates from our long-distant past.

Andy Maxted, Curator (Collections Projects)

Filming with the Jeff Koons Collective

Some of you may have recently read about the Jeff Koons Collective, a group of young people who are working with Brighton Museum & Art Gallery on the upcoming Jeff Koons’ exhibition, creating merchandise in response to his work and overall promoting the exhibit too. You can find out more about the Jeff Koons Collective by reading this blog post written by Charlie, one of the Collective’s members.

As the Museum’s Digital Media Apprentice, I was given the opportunity to produce an evaluation video for the project, detailing the story of the Collective from its early beginnings to to the end. It was an exciting opportunity for me – gaining some filming and editorial experience may come in handy for me in the future – so I jumped at the chance.

At first a lot of the people they were meeting, and the things they were doing didn’t make a lot sense to me but I decided to research Jeff Koons a little and chatted with the Collective. The dots began connecting and I understood exactly what the Collective stood for. It’s designed to engage people in art, specifically young people.

Recently, the Collective met up with the museum’s Programme Manager, Helen Grundy. There’s been a lot of stress, trial and error and persuading been involved to get the works displayed at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. Koons’ work is quite something, it’s not as simple as moving flat fine art paintings around. Koons’ work is complicated and much of it is huge. The Collective were really interested in how the exhibition was coming along, and many of them were shocked at how much the exhibition has been planned, then only to have the plan scrapped and replanned again and again. They were, however, extremely excited that the Jeff Koons exhibition is nearly upon us. It was also great taking the group into the exhibition hall (where the Biba exhibition recently stood) so they could get a sense of where the pieces would go. It was also a key point I wanted to film, I think filming the process of the actual room is very important and most definitely adds to the storytelling element.

The Collective themselves are great people, all of them are incredibly focused and committed to the project and you get a real sense of compassion when you speak to them. They are very much involved and very open, so open in fact that I’ve actually sort of integrated myself into the Collective. It wasn’t on purpose; but the more time you spend with the group the more you feel like you’re part of the team.

For now, they’re in the midst of the project. There’s a lot of planning and discussion going on due to the upcoming events. I can’t say much as I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise. It’s all very exciting!

Personally, I’m slowly beginning to build up my footage so I can start editing and creating the video very soon. I’ve already got the plans sorted for the video, and I hope that it reflects not only the project but also the experience for the young people.

It’s been incredibly fun bringing along a camera and a microphone, and whilst the group where a little hesitant at first, it hasn’t taken them very long to just ignore the camera completely. I’m hoping to film some crucial pieces in our next meeting so I can finally begin editing all the pieces together.

The Jeff Koons Exhibition opens on May 11.

Emily Vernon, Digital Media Apprentice